Page 49 of Once Hidden
“We’ve seen enough,” she said.“Let’s head down before this wind gets any stronger.”She took a photo of the chess board carved into the floor.
Ann Marie took a few shots of the little room, then moved toward the trapdoor and began the descent.As she followed Ann Marie down the stairs, Riley was processing the implications of what she’d sensed.Tony Bartlett wasn’t just a methodical killer seeking revenge for his brother’s death.He was a man desperately trying to maintain his connection to the only person who had ever truly understood him.And now that they had interfered with that connection, there was no telling how he might react.
As they made their way back to the SUV, Riley couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched—not by any physical presence, but by the ghosts of two young boys who had once claimed this place as their own.One was dead, the other twisted by grief into something monstrous.
The SUV’s headlights cut twin paths through the darkness as they began their descent from Quayle Hill, the access road even more treacherous in the dark.Riley knew that Tony Bartlett would soon strike again.He needed to complete what he’d started here.The only question was when—and who his next target would be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Riley adjusted her overnight bag on her shoulder as she and Ann Marie approached the Pineview Motel.After the intensity of their discovery at Quayle Hill—an empty grave waiting for a body that never arrived and their visit to the top of that tower—she felt the weight of the day acutely.Tomorrow would bring fresh angles, new insights.But tonight, she needed a clear head and, hopefully, a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
“Not exactly five-star accommodations,” Ann Marie observed.
Riley glanced at the single-story building with its row of numbered doors.“Chief Autrey said it’s clean.That ‘s all I care about right now.”
The motel office was in a small addition at the end of the building, marked by a humming vending machine and a desk lamp visible through the window.Riley pushed open the door, setting off a tinny electronic chime.
The night clerk, a middle-aged woman with reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, looked up from her paperback novel.“Evening, ladies.Checking in?”
“Yes,” Riley said, placing her FBI credentials on the counter.“We need two rooms, please.I think Chief Autrey might have made reservations for us.“
The woman’s eyebrows rose slightly as she examined the credentials.“Got a regular convention going, huh?”She tapped at an ancient computer keyboard.“Your colleague checked in about an hour ago.Room 14.”
“Captain Hodge is already here?”Ann Marie asked.
“Tall fellow, state police?Said you’d be coming along.”
After filling out the necessary paperwork and receiving their keys—actual metal keys attached to plastic tags, not keycards—Riley and Ann Marie headed back outside.
“We need to check in with Hodge,” Riley said.“I want to know what he found out from McLaughlin.”
They made their way along the concrete walkway, past numbered room doors and window units humming steadily against the summer heat.They found room 14 at the far end of the row.Riley knocked three times on the door.
“It’s Paige and Esmer,” she called.
Footsteps approached from inside, followed by the click of a lock.Captain Travis Hodge opened the door, his tie loosened and sleeves rolled up to his elbows.Behind him, Riley could see case files spread across the bed.
“Not much in the way of luxury, but it’ll do for a night,” he said, stepping aside to let them enter.
The room was basic but functional—queen bed with a faded floral bedspread, desk with a lamp, TV that looked at least fifteen years old.The air conditioner rattled in the window, pushing cool air into the stuffy space.
“Did you speak with Corey McLaughlin?”Riley asked, cutting straight to the point as she sat in one of two chairs by a small round table.
Hodge nodded, collecting some papers from the bed and dropping into the other chair.Ann Marie perched on the edge of the desk.
“Not much he could tell me that we didn’t already know,” Hodge said.“He was on a rural delivery route when he saw a plume of smoke.He went to look, and found a campfire.Since no one was around, he put the fire out.He was attacked as he got back to his vehicle.”
“Any description at all of the attacker?”Ann Marie asked.
“Average height, athletic build, strong.McLaughlin thinks it was a man in his twenties or thirties, but he can’t be sure.The guy was masked, and McLauglin was fighting for his life.”Hodge rubbed his eyes.
Riley frowned.“So, no glimpse of his face at all?”
“Afraid not,” Hodge said.“And the attack happened on an isolated stretch of road with no security cameras or witnesses.McLaughlin’s just lucky he got away.From what we know about our killer, he wouldn’t have survived otherwise.”
Ann Marie shifted on the desk.“Another shallow grave would have gotten a tenant.”
“Speaking of which,” Hodge said, “what did you two find up at Quayle Hill?”
